The present invention relates to board game apparatus of the type wherein letter pieces are used to build words. Prior art board games which the present invention is directed at improving include the well-known crossword games sold by Selchow and Righter under its registered trademark SCRABBLE and the game sold by Parker Brothers under its registered trademark MONOPOLY. These prior art games have met with considerable success and are educational and entertaining for those who use them. However the present invention is concerned with improving upon these prior art games by including features which better test and enhance multiple skills of the players, while also being adaptable to many different skill levers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,347 discloses a board game apparatus which includes a continuous path on which game pieces are moved, which path includes primarily letters. Letter pieces corresponding to the letters on the path are then used by the players to form words on their own separate individual word-forming boards. The letters are assigned dollar values and the players are given a predetermined amount of play money which they use to purchase the letters. The movements of the game pieces along the path are controlled by the throw of dice. Certain of the positions along the player piece path also include instructions to collect a bonus or to draw cards, which cards give bonus moves, letters, or money. Although this board game utilizes the combination of the use of money certificates with a word forming game, it doesn't have a common word forming board used by multiple players alone the lines of the crossword game product sold under the trademark Scrabble.RTM.. Furthermore, the players options with this game as far as forming words are concerned are controlled by the letters that come into their possession.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,396,972 discloses another word forming game apparatus wherein the letter pieces are of different shapes and mate along different edges so as to provide bonus points in certain combinations. This game also has somewhat more variety than the basic crossword game product sold under the trademark Scrabble.RTM. game, however, the optional choices the players may make are controlled, again, primarily by the letters which come into their possession.
There are other board games, not involving word formation, which utilize multiple board spaces along which a player piece is moved, which spaces indicate certain actions that can and must be taken to accomplish the purpose of the game. Exemplary of such games are the espionage game of U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,411 and the space war game of U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,775. Although these last-mentioned games are entertaining and interesting, they do not test and enhance the players' vocabulary skills as do word formation games of the type the present invention is directed at improving.
According to one feature of the present invention, a board game is provided which includes two different board areas, the first board area being used for accommodating formation of words from letter pieces and the second board area accommodating movement of player pieces along a predetermined path. The second board area spaces include indicia for controlling the players' activities, including word forming operations, as a function of the particular space landed upon by the player's playing piece. In preferred embodiments, the movement of the player pieces along the path in the second board area is controlled by random control means such as the roll of dice. With this combination of features, interesting variants in the conventional crossword game product sold under the trademark Scrabble.RTM. are provided since the particular space landed upon by the playing piece in the second board area includes indicia which control the player's options as far as the type or category of word that may be formed in the first board area. In preferred embodiments, the second board area includes spaces with indicia instructing its player to make a word without regard to category as well as spaces with indicia instructing the player to draw a category card from a prearranged stack of same. In those instances where the player piece lands on a space requiring selection of a category card, the player then is faced with another test of his or her vocabulary, since the various categories can be designed so as to require understanding of words in many diverse subjects. For example, a mechanic may be very skilled at forming names of tools and equipment, but will be stumped when a subject such as "astronomical terms" is imposed. On the other hand, an astronomer may well have a more limited vocabulary when it comes to tool names than does a mechanic.
In particularly preferred embodiments of the game apparatus of the present invention, a timer, such as an egg timer or a stop watch, is provided for timing the step of word formation by a player. In these embodiments, both the mental speed and acuity are tested and enhanced, since a player must very quickly form words or lose his or her turn. In preferred embodiments, it is recommended that a maximum time limit of three minutes or less be imposed, to commence as soon as a category card is selected or as soon as the player piece lands on a space permitting word formation without regard to category. This time limitation, coupled with the random control of category limitations, provides for a very advantageous interesting and exciting fast pace.
The random imposition of category limitations can be taken into account by very skilled players since they can anticipate categories and words which will fit together with the words already formed on the board, based on the play of previous category cards and letter pieces, thus gaining additional effective time to compose letters as compared to less experienced or skilled players which can not really anticipate such matters. These features make the game particularly attractive to very intelligent players, since they can utilize both their vocabulary and strategy skills to gain advantage over their opponents. Also, these features prevent even the most skilled and experienced players from being bored with the game.
In particularly preferred embodiments, the letter pieces are assigned different point or dollar values, dependent on the frequency of their use in forming words, thus placing a premium on word formation using particular seldom used letters in a player's possession. In preferred embodiments, play money or point certificates are utilized to keep track of the points earned by the players and also to give the players the opportunity to purchase letters from one another and from a central bank of play money point certificates under certain conditions. In this way, certain advantageous aspects of the game of MONOPOLY are incorporated into the game of the present invention. This feature of using play money point certificates tests and enhances yet further skills, since successful players must anticipate the relative worth of other letters vis-a-vis their costs ($), while also considering the letters already in their possession and already in position on the word forming board area. The utilization of play money certificates to monitor the players progress during a game is advantageous because it dispenses with the need for intricate written score keeping and also graphically apprises each player of their relative success.
Certain advantageous preferred embodiments of the invention include spaces on the second board area which direct players having playing pieces land thereon to draw from a stack of bonus cards or a stack of penalty or library fine cards. With these features, the element of chance is further interjected into the game on a random basis, while not detracting from the basic multiple skill aspects of the game. In certain preferred embodiments, at least one spinner is also provided at one of the spaces on the player piece path, which spinner effects a second random chance control means which the player must cope with at intermittent intervals.
The various features and combinations of features of the board game apparatus of the present invention make the game particularly adaptable to various skill levels, as long as all players playing the game at one time are of commensurate skill. The adaptability of the game apparatus of the present invention is enhanced by inclusion of different sets of category cards of varying levels of difficulty. For example, if young children are to play the game, a set of category cards could be selected so as to include only very broad, well-known categories of things or places, such as "animals", "birds" and "towns or cities". On the hand, for players with advanced skills and larger vocabularies, a set of category cards with more restrictive and difficult categories could be selected, such as "surnames of U.S. senators", "one word book titles", "surnames of famous left-handed people", or the like.
With the board game apparatus of the present invention, the effect of elements of chance can also be controlled by appropriate selection of the penalty and bonus cards. For example, for young children of diverse abilities, it may be desirable to increase the elements of chance so that poorer players have the opportunity to succeed. This can easily be done by having the bonus and penalty cards play a very significant role in the outcome of the game by giving or taking away substantial points or dollar amounts. On the other hand, for highly educated and skilled players of commensurate ability who desire to engage in a game primarily of skill, the penalty and bonus cards can be so selected as to minimize their impact on the outcome of the game, while still introducing a certain element of chance.
These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for the purposes of illustration only, a single embodiment in accordance with the present invention.